Ballad Of A Thin Man was first performed by the Grateful Dead, with Bob Dylan, on July 4, 1987. It was then performed 5 more times during the Dylan sets of the Dylan & The Dead tour of 1987. The Grateful Dead, without Dylan, performed the song a couple of times in early 1988 with Bob Weir taking the lead vocals and then dropped the song from the live repertoire.

The song was performed by Bob Dylan with The Dead on August 5, 2003 but not included on the concert CD of that show.